Archive | Canadian Regional Media and Web Publications

[Frontier Lithium] ‘This is a Sudbury story’ – by Jim Moodie (Sudbury Star – May 8, 2019)

May 8, 2019 in Battery Technology Innovation/Electric Vehicles, Canadian Regional Media and Web Publications, Lithium, Ontario Mining

https://www.thesudburystar.com/

With electrical vehicles poised to explode in coming years, a Sudbury company is hoping to establish what it calls a “battery ecosystem” in Northern Ontario.

“You need to have a lithium mine first, and mines will build chemical plants,” said Bora Ugurgel, manager of investor relations with Frontier Lithium, based in Val Caron.

The junior mining company is developing a lithium mine in northwestern Ontario that hosts the “highest quality deposit in North America,” he said, and expects a processing facility can also take shape in our region. Continue Reading →

[Timmins] City still has sights on ferrochrome plant – by Ron Grech (Timmins Daily Press – May 8, 2019)

May 8, 2019 in Canadian Regional Media and Web Publications, Chromium/Platinum Group Metals, Ontario Mining, Ontario’s Ring of Fire Mineral Discovery, Timmins

https://www.timminspress.com/

Timmins officials not deterred by Noront announcement to accept Sault’s bid as the site for a proposed ferrochrome processing facility.

Timmins officials are not giving up hope. In light of Tuesday’s announcement by Noront Resources in favour of Sault Ste. Marie as the location for its ferrochrome processing facility, Timmins officials vow to continue to press a case for locating the smelter here.

Timmins’ hopes rest on a likelihood that when it comes time to start construction, Noront, a junior mining company, may not be the one calling the shots.

“We believe that there is lots of time to affect this decision simply because Noront will not be the company that builds this facility,” said Mayor George Pirie, who hosted a press conference in the boardroom of the Timmins Economic Development Corporation Tuesday afternoon. Continue Reading →

[Ferrochrome Processing Facility] Noront chooses Sault Ste. Marie – by Elaine Della-Mattia (Sault Star – May 7, 2019)

May 7, 2019 in Canadian Regional Media and Web Publications, Chromium/Platinum Group Metals, Ontario Mining, Ontario’s Ring of Fire Mineral Discovery

https://www.saultstar.com/

Noront Resources has selected Sault Ste. Marie to be the host of its ferrochrome processing facility. CEO Alan Coutts said the lower operating costs over the 100-year period, is what set Sault Ste. Marie out from Timmins.

Sault Ste. Marie will be the home of a new ferrochrome processing facility, said Alan Coutts, CEO of Noront Resources.

He made the official announcement at city hall Tuesday morning, concluding that the final analysis completed between the shortlisted cities – Sault Ste. Marie and Timmins – suggests while Timmins may have lower capital expenditure costs, Sault Ste. Marie’s operating costs will be lower, a significant factor for the 100-year operation.

The lower operating costs is what tipped the balance in Sault Ste. Marie’s favour, he said. As well, the completion of Algoma’s Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act proceedings allowed Noront Resources to have thorough discussions with the steelmaker’s new owners to ensure that a long-term lease arrangement between the two parties could be reached. Continue Reading →

Exploration incentive boosts mining investment and activity in Saskatchewan (Yorkton This Week – May 7, 2019)

May 7, 2019 in Canadian Regional Media and Web Publications, Saskatchewan Mining

https://www.yorktonthisweek.com/

The Targeted Mineral Exploration Incentive (TMEI) is leading to increased drilling activity for base metals, precious metals and minerals in a defined target area near Creighton and creating tangible opportunities for future mining investment in Saskatchewan.

Developed in consultation with industry, TMEI is part of the Government of Saskatchewan’s Mineral Development Strategy announced in 2017. The 2019-20 Budget continues to support this strategy by providing the overall funding level for the TMEI program, which is established on an annual basis, to a maximum of $750,000 per year.

Seven successful applications were received for the 2018-19 incentive program, indicating a total of 110 new drill holes and proposed expenditures of more than $6.5 million in the eligibility area. Some examples of metals and minerals being explored for include: copper, gold, nickel and zinc. Eligible companies will receive a grant of up to $50,000 per year for drilling in the target area. Continue Reading →

High-grade discoveries open “whole new chapter” at Kirkland Lake mine: Exploration drilling probes unexplored areas at Macassa’s South Mine Complex – by Staff (Northern Ontario Business – May 2, 2019)

May 2, 2019 in Abitibi Greenstone Belt, Canadian Regional Media and Web Publications, Gold and Silver, Kirkland Lake, Ontario Mining

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Kirkland Lake’s Macassa Mine doesn’t appear to be relinquishing its status as one the world’s richest gold mines. Kirkland Lake Gold released some eye-popping high-grade drill intercepts from its ongoing underground exploration and expansion project within the South Mine Complex (SMC).

In an May 2 news release, the company highlighted the results from 73 drill holes and nearly 30,000 metres worth of drilling from the east and west exploration drifts on the mine’s 5300-foot and 5700-foot level.

Some of the high-grade intersections include 118.8 grams per tonne (g/t) over a 2.0 metre core length at SMC, and 4,772 g/t over a 2.0-metre length from an identified zone, west of the current resource. A 1.8-metre section from another hole yielded 2,458.6 g/t in the lower complex and to the east and at depth. Continue Reading →

Agnico Eagle’s Meliadine mine set to start commercial production – by Jim Bell (Nunatsiaq News – May 1, 2019)

May 2, 2019 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/

Inuit orgs could rake in nearly half a billion from Agnico Eagle’s Kivalliq operations

Following the pouring of its first bar of gold last February, the Meliadine gold mine near Rankin Inlet will start commercial production this month, Agnico Eagle Mines Ltd. said last week in its financial statements for the first quarter of 2019.

The processing plant at Meliadine has already produced 17,582 “pre-commercial” ounces of gold. And by the end of this year, AEM hopes to produce about 230,000 ounces, the company said.

The long-awaited Meliadine mine, which cost more than $900 million in capital expenditures, is expected to require about 900 employees, at least 350 of whom will be Inuit. “Three underground mining areas are now in operation, with operations in a fourth area expected to commence in the second quarter of 2019,” the company said. Continue Reading →

Innovation centre planning $4M expansion in Sudbury: NORCAT plans above-ground addition to its underground centre to meet demand – by Lindsay Kelly (Northern Ontario Business – April 30, 2019)

April 30, 2019 in Canadian Regional Media and Web Publications, Mining Education and Innovation, Ontario Mining, Sudbury Basin

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

NORCAT is planning a $4-million expansion at its Sudbury underground centre to meet growing demand for the development, testing and commercialization of new mining technologies.

Situated northwest of the city in the community of Onaping, the underground facility was established in 1997 at the former operating Fecunis Adit Mine, previously owned by Falconbridge (now Glencore).

Don Duval, NORCAT’s CEO, noted the organization is the only non-profit regional innovation centre globally to have an operating mine dedicated to helping startup companies develop, test and demonstrate emerging technologies in an operating mine environment. Continue Reading →

BOOM! brings a century of Britannia mining history to life – by Brandon Barrett (Pique News Magazine – April 26, 2019)

April 26, 2019 in British Columbia Mining, Canadian Mining History, Canadian Regional Media and Web Publications, Copper

https://www.piquenewsmagazine.com/

KIRSTIN CLAUSEN knows mining history isn’t exactly the sexiest topic for tourists, but the executive director of the Britannia Mine Museum is banking on an ambitious interactive show launching this summer to paint the historic mill in a new light.

“I think we can be honest: Mining can be a tough sell to turn it into a tourist attraction,” Clausen said. “We hope people will feel a connection to the story.” That particular story is deeply rooted in the history of British Columbia. Once the most productive copper mine in the British Empire, the Britannia mill today is a national historic site and museum that welcomes visitors from around the globe.

In an effort to better appeal to modern audiences, staff at the museum dreamed up the concept for BOOM!, a multi-sensory, interactive show that brings the historic Mill No. 3 to life through “sound, smell, shaking and noise,” Clausen explained. In operation from 1921 to 1974, the ore mill served as the focal point of Britannia Beach, and according to Clausen, has many stories to tell. Continue Reading →

Pure Gold revives a past producer in the Red Lake camp – by Lindsay Kelly (Northern Ontario Business – April 25, 2019)

April 25, 2019 in Canadian Regional Media and Web Publications, Gold and Silver, Ontario Mining, Red Lake

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Mine developer aiming for commercial production at Madsen Mine project in 2020

Six years ago, as board members at Pure Gold Mining were going through a checklist spelling out the ideal attributes of a potential exploration property, they quickly realized the past-producing Red Lake Madsen Mine had it all.

“We wanted to be in a good, stable jurisdiction, we wanted a project that was high-grade, and we wanted access to infrastructure,” said Darin Labrenz, president, CEO and director at Pure Gold. “So, something that we could not only explore, but ultimately build.”

In operation between 1938 and 1974, Madsen is the second largest producer in the Red Lake camp, consecutively producing 2.5 million ounces of gold over 36 years. Continue Reading →

Sudbury lithium miner aims to take its place on battery production stage – by Staff (Northern Ontario Business – April 24, 2019)

April 25, 2019 in Battery Technology Innovation/Electric Vehicles, Canadian Regional Media and Web Publications, Lithium, Ontario Mining

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Frontier Lithium teams with Queen’s University, Glencore on developing refining process

A Sudbury lithium exploration company has struck a partnership with Queen’s University and Glencore to devise a way to produce lithium hydroxide for the North American battery industry.

Frontier Lithium has inked a strategic partnership agreement to work with XPS Expert Process Solutions, a Glencore spinoff company, and Queen’s University professor Ahmad Ghahreman to develop a process to refine spodumene concentrate into lithium hydroxide.

The collaborative testing project is built around Frontier Lithium’s PAK project, 175 kilometres north of Red Lake in northwestern Ontario. The company claims its 6,976-hectare property is the highest grade lithium deposit in North America. Continue Reading →

Finding yourself among the slag heaps of Sudbury (Sudbury Star – April 25, 2019)

April 25, 2019 in Books, Art, Music and Photography About Mining and Northern Topics, Canadian Regional Media and Web Publications, Sudbury Basin

https://www.thesudburystar.com/

Acclaimed Greater Sudbury writer Tom Leduc is set to launch Slagflower: Poems Unearthed from a Mining Town, his debut collection of poetry, during an event at the Sudbury Theatre centre on Friday. The event runs from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Admission is free.

More than just a collection of poems, Slagflower is the story of a fourth-generation son of miners and his journey beyond the world underground, as well as the tale of a city struggling to grow beyond its past and become more than just a mining town.

Inspired in part by Leduc’s family history, the book invites readers to reflect on what it means to grow up in a mining town and “find yourself — and beauty — among the slag heaps.” Slagflower will be available for sale for $20, at the launch event and then through Latitude 46 Publishing, Chapters/Indigo, Amazon.ca and other independent book stores. Continue Reading →

Australians drawn to Iroquois Falls for nickel – by Staff (Northern Ontario Business – April 18, 2019)

April 23, 2019 in Canadian Regional Media and Web Publications, Junior Exploration Sector, Ontario Mining

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Perth explorer has high production hopes in expanding holdings in northeastern Ontario

A Sudbury junior miner has flipped a northeastern Ontario base metal property to an Australian exploration outfit.

Transition Metals announced April 15 that it has completed the sale of the Dundonald nickel-copper-near Iroquois Falls to Legendary Ore Mining. Legendary is a subsidiary of VaniCom of Perth, Western Australia. The two parties signed a binding letter of intent last August.

The terms of the sale involved an initial payment of $50,000 to Transition Metals at the signing the letter of intent followed by a second payment of $100,000 upon closing the definitive purchase agreement. Continue Reading →

CLIMATE CHANGE THREATENS ICE ROADS. SATELLITES COULD HELP – by Nick Stockton (Wired Magazine – April 18, 2019)

April 18, 2019 in Canada Mining – North of 60, Canadian Regional Media and Web Publications, Diamond Mining, Mining Railway, Road and Other Infrastructure

https://www.wired.com/

FOR A FEW months each winter, Canada’s Tibbitt to Contwoyto Winter Road is the world’s longest ice highway, a 300-plus-mile network of frozen lakes that connects lucrative diamond mines in Canada’s Northwest Territories to supplies from the nation’s not-quite-so-far north.

But warmer winters and earlier springs have shortened the road’s open season by up to two weeks over the past decade. The loss of the road for even such a short time is very expensive, because the only other way to reach these mines is by air.

Salvation may come from space. A Canadian researcher has demonstrated that radar emitted from satellites can peer through the ice, determining not just its thickness but also its quality. (Does it have a lot of bubbles? Continue Reading →

Returning green to a blackened landscape: Microbiologist opens MMTS week with talk on mine remediation using microbes – by Karen McKinley (Northern Ontario Business – April 15, 2019)

April 15, 2019 in Biomining and Bioremediation, Canadian Regional Media and Web Publications, Sudbury Basin, Sudbury Laurentian University – Mining Faculties and Research

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Nearly two centuries of mining in northeastern Ontario has left its mark with waste from thousands of mines.

But Nadia Mykytczuk said that waste can be turned into another mining opportunity and at the same time clean up the dirtier parts of the industry’s legacy.

Mykytczuk, a microbiologist, was the guest speaker at the kickoff luncheon for Modern Mining and Technology Sudbury Week (MMTS), hosted by the Greater Sudbury Development Corporation, on April 12. Continue Reading →

THE DRIFT: The cold, hard realities of mining on the moon: Greg Baiden Sudbury mining engineer takes pragmatic approach to space mining – by Ian Ross (Northern Ontario Business – April 10, 2019)

April 15, 2019 in Canadian Regional Media and Web Publications, Ontario Mining, Space Mining, Sudbury Basin

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Greg Baiden once introduced himself at a NASA space mining conference in California as a “recovering asteroid miner.” The CEO of Penguin Automated Systems had been enlisted by the agency to bring a healthy dose of pragmatism to a roomful of high-minded scientists and entrepreneurs about the realities of mining in a hostile and extreme environment.

After listening to more than his share of science fiction stories over the years, Baiden felt he had to inject some Sudbury sensibility to the wider discussion.

So to establish his credentials, Baiden began his presentation by mentioning that his former employer, Inco (now Vale), has been mining the remnants of an asteroid impact in Sudbury for the past 130 years. Continue Reading →